you will, annie. this is a fox news alert. lots of breaking news on the crisis in ukraine. shep smith standing by in kiev. earlier, he was in the crimean region which is currently under russian control. he'll join us to tell us what he saw. first, the latest. earlier today, the eu and united states suggested we may slap economic sanctions on russia if putin doesn't back off. russia immediately retalyatded with a threat to take u.s. and eu assets currently held in russia. that prompted a meeting between secretary kerry and sergey lavrov in paris. that meeting appears to have accomplished exactly zero. angela merkel called putin's moves out of touch, and in the

meantime, hillary clinton compared vlad putin to adolf hitler. folks, the mood is tenls. the region unstable, but let's bring it to the table and talk about the political ramifications. bob, i'm going to start with you. your thoughts on everything? >> first, i think the eu stepped forward more quickly than i thought. what the russians have said is they ought to stick to an agreement with the eu that was made by the former president, which will not happen. it's interesting to me that these elections -- somebody will be elected who will be pro-western. the former president who is now hiding out in the soviet union had a deal with the russians to extend their lease on the naval base for about 25 years. it was supposed to be up in 2017. that will not happen. curious to see what putin does. the second thing that strikes me is so far as i can tell, maybe shep can fill us in on this, but i don't think they have moved more troops to the border of crimea and ukraine. >> okay. let me ask you about this.

the $1 eu promised to help ukraine out with the situation, is that enough? is the billion dollars that we're offering enough? should we even be involved in this? >> i don't think it's going to be enough. we can give them the money, but i don't think it changes the reality that russia has such a fear over that region, so i think it's a bit of wasted money. i'm not as bullish on the sanctions as maybe bob is. i think sanctions will be weak. it is a mutually beneficial relationship with the eu and russia. if they're seaririouserious, an skeptical they are serious, putin still needs the europeans' money. it's almost like us with china. again, i'm very skeptical of today's developments that the eu will be able to really buckle down and put the screws for somebody who is playing a real game that i think is going to turn out quite messy. >> in the intro, we talked about hillary clinton comparing or

somewhat comparing vladimir putin to adolf hitler. she responded moments ago, we just got this. take a listen. >> what i said yesterday is that the claims by president putin and other russians that they had to go into crimea and maybe further into eastern ukraine because they had to protect the russian minorities. and that is reminiscent of claims that were made back in the 1930s when germany under the nazis kept talking about how they had to protect german minorities. >> greg, hillary clinton doubling down on the original claim. >> does she have any idea that putin is nominated for a nobel peace prize? how offensive this is? this could affect his chances. i doubt it, though. this might actually help him win the nobel prize. she's touching on something about the russians that is

interesting to me, which is their ability to play the -- i hate to use the phrase, long ball, or the long game. their plan, really, is to outlast our attention span. if you have ever seen a russian book, war and peace is 1400 pages. 560,000 words. that's what they read. meanwhile, we're proud if we finish green eggs and ham. everything is in the long haul for them. what? >> on the senate floor, no less. >> on the senate floor. that's how they look at us, as rather superficial and we're in the long term, but i would say this to president obama. forget standing up to putin. stand up to the anti-american left wing radicals here and drill your butt off. >> dana, bob mentioned something yesterday or the day before, and we talked a little bit about it yesterday also. the possibility of making -- cutting a deal. elevating ukraine to nato or at least speeding up the process. your thoughts on something like that? >> i have always thought that expanding nato was the most

important thing for ukraine and georgia, but that's partly because during the bush administration, the president pushed for that, and i understood why. president obama hasn't pushed for that, and one of the reasons is the eu said they blocked it in april of 2008 so there wasn't a reason to talk about it. if that is something president obama wants to get behind now and push, it's going to be difficult, but i would support that action. i think that would be helpful. i do wonder about nato's resilience when it comes to the baltic states, in particular latvia expressing concern today. if i could make one more point about the eu and the united states. one of the concerns lastnectomy, and we understand the close financial ties that the eu has with russia. tells me that we should really get behind, giving the president trade promotion authority and finalizing agreements, particularly the one on the table right now with the eu. we should be able to do at least that. >> i want to jump to a sound bite from last night's hannity

show. donald rumsfeld and peters talking about the situation. take a listen. >> vladimir putin believes in russia. he believes in russia's destiny, the mission. obama does not believe in american exceptionalism. >> we're sending a signal that america is weak, that we're in decline, and weakness is provocative. we've created a leadership vacuum in the world. it's filled by putin and it will be filled by other putin-like people. putin is punching so far above his weight class and the united states isn't punching at all. we don't have a foreign policy. we don't have a strategy. >> camera three right now, bob, what about it? >> that's the same rumsfeld who went into iraq with not enough troops, forced george bush in. the fact this guy would talk about the strength, and it was him -- >> however, can we focus -- >> i'm saying rumsfeld is the wrong guy. the other guy i don't know. rumsfeld is the wrong guy to

listen to. >> they were both on hannity last night. is it true, are we punching at all? and frankly, should we be punching? >> are you asking me this? >> yeah, that's what they said. >> i think we should be punching in deal making. as i said before, i don't think they're leaving crimea. i don't think they will. if they don't, we ought to get something out of it. >> there's this other idea if you say president obama is weak, that means you're saying putin is strong. that's been the criticism. that's not true. saying obama is weak helps him because that's the point. for so long, his pals have coddled him like a fragile child with food allergies. we're trying to say, look, dude, there's real stuff here. putin proves that a leopard doesn't change his spots. he just eats the leopard. >> angela merkel in germany, very important not only trading partner but also strategic partner with vladimir putin. they have a very good relationship. interesting that she took a shot at him today. >> that's right. if germany, i think, gets out in front of this in a real way, i

think a lot of the other countries in the eu will fall in line. i'm interested to see if she's going to continue the continue. the irony is russia is a pretty weak country. its nukes mask the fask b fact it's only a regional power. it tells every regional thug that school is out and nobody is going to come push the gang that cedes the backyard of the ukraine. what is also ironic is president obama, i think, is very well has no problem going after the rich in this country. he does it on domestic issues, but he looks like a dunce on the international stage, and the irony here with this situation is the president of the ukraine essentially raided the ukrainian treasury to build these lavish palaces on the cover of every tabloid internationally. if president obama would assault him for what he is verbally and take to the bully pulpit, calling him a dictator and a liar and a thief, i think he could start to make putin's base

squirm. >> john mccain said it's a massive failure on our intel part to not know that putin was going to do what he did. is there any way of knowing what is in putin's mind? >> there might have been missed signals. right now, the most important thing is to deal with the crisis and understand the president needs to tell us where he needs to go. let's have it and decide if we can get behind it. i think that supporting the president in this time is an important thing, but he's got to tell us what he wants to do. >> i think hillary realized that the reset button is spelled with two ss. >> i'll figure that out in the break. while we talk to shep, let's get perspective from shep who returned from a journey into the crimean region. that's controlled by putin's forces. give us the lowdown. >> well, the russians are saying they're not controlling it, their soldiers aren't in there. that's not true. we went to a naval facility today where the russians are in complete control. the ukrainians who normally man

that had to give up their weapons. they won't let the wives of the ukrainians visit them. they also took over two strategic defense areas. they're lying about it on the world stage. there's no question about it. >> shep, this is bob. do you think having looked at this and getting a sense of what the russians in crimea, that is to say the people who live there, who have russian lineage, are they prepared to go autonomous and break away from the ukraine? >> i've not heard anybody say that. i've heard those who grew up in large part under the soviet regime who say we'd rather be soviets. we'd rather be with the russians. a lot of the people in the protests, we don't know if they're people who live in the ukraine in crimea or people brought in from russia to stage the protests. we don't have a way to know that and the locals don't seem to be willing to talk about that.

>> shep, it's dana. i'm curious what you're hearing on the ground about the importance of international law and territorial borders and making sure those are respected. is there any sort of principle discussed here or it feels like it's get a deal done and then walk away and hope it doesn't go any further. >> dana, i keep hearing, i heard from secretary of state john kerry tonight that in fact the territorial integrity must be respected, that they must not do this. they have done it. the question now is how do you undo it or can you undo it? what might push them out of the crimea, why would they do such a thing? the russians seem to have leverage over people. the oil and natural gas, especially, which comes right through ukraine and supplies germany and so much of the rest of europe, and they have a lot of leverage on us especially when you consider the road that goes through russia that takes food to the troops in afghanistan. he seems to have a lot of leverage. >> so far, it seems to me like

it's been a pretty quiet invasion. are they just moving in? is there any resistance? is it pure ambivalence? >> i don't know if it's ambiv lnls. what the ukrainians are saying if we try to resist, we don't have the force to do so. that would have played into putin's hands and he would have said we have to do this now. at this moment, it's bloodless. there's no resistance when it would have been futile anymore. now they have set up camp and taken over buildings. it's surreal to see the people who ran the buildings are forced to give up their weapons and stand there as the russians take over the show. i can't imagine being in such a position. >> there's a sense today that vladimir putin started to tamper his rhetoric a little bit, maybe tone it back, and i heard on this network a lot of people say, oh, he's just posturing. what's the sense on the ground over there?

>> the sense on the ground here seems to be putin, at least for this moment, has won. if what he wanted to do is get his warm water port to the black sea in the south, and what he wanted to do was gain control there in the crimea, a bread basket, in a very strategically important place, for the moment, he's won. once you have won, why not shut up and let those you have beaten do all the talking. that's the theory we're hearing here. i don't know what the fact is, but on the ground, that's what the locals seem to think. except, of course, those who want the russian ties. those we met in crimea, many are happy about this. >> shep, fast, you have been there a couple day. do you think the russians are going to leave crimea or is this now a done deal? >> i don't have any idea, but as you look at the facts, and who has leverage, why would you leave? you have to have a reason to leave. if somebody in europe or the united states comes up with some leverage where it would behoove him to do so, i would think he probably would. unless and until that happens,

why would you? >> we have to go, give us a sense, we talk about the three big pipelines that go through ukraine to supply western and eastern europe, but really what the russians -- the way i understand it, they're interested in that deep water port in the crimean region. they want access to be able to use the shipping lanes. am i wrong? >> of course they do. they have a long-term lease which the previous government, yanukovych, extended. that's not going to be continued if they get a new government in here. but they don't have any other warm-water ports. that's their way out. their fleet has been down there for a long time. out of an agreement with the ukrainian government. he needs it, and for now, he has it. >> strategically, that's a very important port to them. we'll have to leave it there. doing a great job. we appreciate your time. >> you bet. >> we'll leave it there. up next, guess who made her way back to capitol hill today? lois lerner, the former irs official who pled the fifth last

year. she talked? did you think she would talk? and why elijah cummings exploded after darrell issa adjourned the hearing. you'll see this when "the five" returns.

so, a nomination vote failed in the senate today. the loser, a staunch defender of a cop killer. debo adegbile was going to head the justice department's civil rights division despite defending mumia abu-jamal. thankfully, the vote failed, but it's not over. harry reid voted against it just so he could bring it up again. meanwhile, maureen faulkner, the wife of the slain officer, wasn't allowed to testify. that's how it works. if only she were a victim of oppression, had dreadlocks and belonged to a death cult, then she would be the cherished radical and documentaries would be made about her instead. instead, being widowed by a racist militant doesn't rate, and the white house now fumes that their guy lost. for eric holder's balkanized america, race must always win the race, and killers earn

respect by living longer. we get it, every perp gets represented, that's how it's done, but this lawyer crusaded, revealing a bitter bias. it speaks to a administration steeped in its own bias. isn't the defense of mumia kind of racist? you think if mumia was white, he would be a hero, or if the dead officer was black, would he know his name? i doubt it. the great story here is maureen faulkner called a lot of senators on the fence, got them persuaded. then the president responded. here's what he had to say. very upset. what did he say? he said this, as they show it. there you go. he called it a travesty based on wildly unfair character attacks against a good and qualified public servant. i would read more but frankly, it bores me. eric --

>> yes. >> yes, you. >> first. >> this nomination was a thumb in the eye to law enforcement. why were they so upset? >> they thought they had the bag. they only need a simple majority. they thought they had it. they thought they had 49 or 50 because republicans, one was going to be absent. he ended up showing up. they were sure. they sent joe biden to the senate floor to read the confirmation and it turns out they didn't have the vote. they screwed up and you want to talk about a black eye, that's your black eye. they can't count their own votes in the senate. >> the thing that drove me crazy, if you google mumia, you gets millions of hit. if you google daniel faulkner, you get maybe 100. in our culture, we find radicals so romantic. >> the left has always had their priorities backwards. like the koch brothers, it's

like ahab and the white whale. and they idolize people who don't deserve idolizing. koch brothers bad, cop killer, good. they should take a lesson from npr, who tried to give this guy his own show from his prison cell. that didn't work so well, but this was horribly embarrassing. the senate majority whip should be embarrassed for not getting the count right and sending biden over there. with all the people they could have picked, why him? it was done to provoke. whether it was shoring up the base early or just getting republicans to get angry about this, this was a deliberate move by the obama administration knowing darn well that the right and the left have a visceral reaction when it comes to mumia or anyone related to him. >> that's a good point, bob. it seems like a contentious suggestion at the least. >> it may have been, but if i could have 15 uninterrupted seconds and then i'll get out of here. three months ago, john ferguson was executed in the worst mass

murder in florida history. he killed six people, and then while he was being indicted, he killed two teenage girls. he was represented by who? by the republican chief justice of the united states supreme court, john roberts. that's all i have to say. >> all right, that was 15 seconds. well done. >> way to keep time. >> dana, thoughts on this? is this going to come back the way it's been constructed through harry reid voting no? >> i would be surprised. i'll comment not on the merits but the politics of it. so in a second term in a midterm election year, you have to be careful about who you're going to send up for nominees because you're ripe for targeting politically, when you lose your friends, it's embarrassing, and i'm surprised they continued with this and they called for the vote because about three months ago, they pulled a nominee from the federal energy regulatory commission because of opposition that was strong. that's not a very high-profile position. he was yanked, and this, this

was provocative, and politically they should have known better than to call it up if they didn't want the president to issue that statement. >> there you go. up next, former first lady barbara bush sits down with fox news and ponders the possibility of a future offspring in the white house. mrs. bush when "the five" returns.

events from the past week have us talking about who is best suited for the oval office in 2016. big names are being floated on the left and right. there's hillary, biden, paul, and rubio, and current governor chris christie and former governor jeb bush. who is best qualified? former first lady barbara bush gave her take to us. >> i don't know if you're a reader of the "new york times." but they had a column and the

headline was brace yourself for hillary and jeb. >> i did see that, and i thought anything to make news. >> so is it okay with you if he ran? >> it has nothing to do with me. it just seemed to me ridiculous in a country this size that we didn't have other families. we have great governors, other people. i just don't understand it. and maybe jeb's given all he should give. because he worked awfully hard for a long time. but he is the best qualified person in the country, no question about that. just put me down as saying that. >> so i've got a feeling if he runs, you would vote for him. >> of course i would. >> just checking. >> even have to ask the question. okay, so this is a woman, bob, who knows what it's like for a husband and a son to run and be president, and what it takes and takes out of them. do you think jeb is smart to keep at least his options open for the possibility of 2016? >> absolutely. as i said before, i think from

our standpoint, he is by far the most potent opponent because he will cut into the hispanic vote like his brother did. i think he's got florida, which the democrats have taken that the last two times around, which was a switch. they are usually a republican base. i think the republicans will screw it up and maybe not nominate him, but this is a no-brainer. absolutely no-brainer. so far superior to any other republican. >> beware. bob wants him. reverse psychology. >> i hope he decides not to do it. >> the most threatening to you? >> one of the -- on one of the criticisms for him is he's going to deal with the fact on his right he's got a very vocal group of people against him, eric. do you think he can overcome that or should he try or what? >> think about that for a second. bob said the hispanic vote and florida. there's another one who likely will get the hispanic vote in

florida, marco rubio. >> maybe. >> i don't know -- i mean, marco rubio at one point was tea party and then he wasn't tea party. this is the problem with it republican party now. it's either the far right, the conservative far right conservatives who are going to say rand paul, ted cruz, maybe marco rubio, and then the less far right, call them centrists who say bush or maybe christie. they're divided. they have to get behind one candidate and win. >> but there's going to be a long time between now and getting behind one candidate. maybe another year and a half. how do you see that playing out? >> not good for republicans. the longer time we have and the more time we have to kill each other, the worse. i think jeb bush is incredibly qualified. whenever i'm in florida, people love him. unfortunately, the worst thing about him is the last name, and people will say, oh, bush-clinton redux. i'm not certain you will get either one of them, so i would

look outside, maybe to wisconsin, to a walker, to maybe someone who bridges the divide that eric mentioned between the conservative faction and more moderates. walker has a lot of love from a pretty broad swath of the party. >> a lot of people scoff at the idea of another bush. i ask, are you okay with another clinton? they don't complain. they just want her to win. do you want to talk about this or chris christie? >> i can talk about both of them. >> would you like to have christie to set it up? >> sure. >> here you go. >> what do we do? >> elect a new president. that's what you do. >> yay! >> we're going to elect a new president either way, right? >> exactly. libertarians and conservatives by nature dispice government, but it's time to get over that. the point in running is not to be a public servant. we want to make money. but it's to prevent the others from becoming public servants.

it's like you don't want to drive a bus for the living, but if the brus driver is drunk and naked, you have to pum him out of the seat. they have to run government to save government from itself. it's time to win, baby, as al davis would say, and barbara bush is right. there's a nation of 313 million. only five people are qualified and they're from the same family? come on. >> what do you think, dana? >> you know where i am on that, bob. let me ask you on democrats. if hillary clinton decides not to run, what are the democrats going to do? >> that's going to pose a big question, but she will run. i tell you one thing about scott walker, interesting candidate, could not pull a single hispanic vote. without hispanic votes, the republicans can't win. >> i thought he did decently in wisconsin with them. >> no. >> okay. fair enough. >> democratic nominee, i'm saying, is going to be andrew

cuomo, for stomping the butt of bill de blasio. >> i think that's the most likely person if she doesn't run. >> interesting. next is one of the most popular diets in america really as bad for you as smoking? we'll tell you what that's about. plus, what happens to bob when he tried one of those juice cleanses. it's a great story. stay with us.

test test flu ♪

what is this place? where are we? this is where we bring together the fastest internet and the best in entertainment. we call it the x1 entertainment operating system. it looks like the future! we must have encountered a temporal vortex. further analytics are necessary. beam us up. ♪ that's my phone. hey. [ female announcer ] the x1 entertainment operating system, only from xfinity. tv and internet together like never before.

the first day of lent where many people begin 40 days of giving up something they love, often unhealthy food. if you're looking to cut out carbs. watch out because a new study finds a diet of meat and cheese might be as bad as smoking. as for the popular juice cleanses, they sure are expensive, but according to some doctors they're not very effective. eric, you don't eat meat. what have you given up for lent? >> i fast every tuesday anyway, which will be tough. i'm going to give up -- >> hip-hop. >> really? >> i'm just coming up with something. >> i'll try. >> don't take it. >> i was going to give up fighting with bob. >> you have until midnight to

think about it. >> being an editor of men's health, we get more of these studies. they're so contradictory, i can't keep up with it. >> there are two or three really hazardous things in your life. the most hazardous thing is a health editor because they need to fill up the fat bucket every day to get the paycheck, which is why you hear about cleansing and toxins. ask a health editor about what a toxin is, and they won't be able to tell you. health editors if you hang around them, they're very depressing. the other health tip is build a time machine and go back in time and pick your parents. >> now, andrea, you did a cleansing, as you told me. what do you think of it? could you recommend it to people? >> i don't recommend it for long periods of time. the key is to have it prepackaged so you don't cheat. >> looks delicious. >> i did the lemonade one. by day three, you feel very clear and very -- you get very

skinny. anyone who says you're flushing out toxins, we know you're lying. you're trying to get a hot body. by day five, i was ready to kill someone. i was so angry, i looked great, but i was miserable. >> dana, have you done a cleansing? >> no, i haven't. i grew up on a cattle ranch. i think a lot of these studies are attacks on the dairy and cattle industry. it goes around and around. look, we have eyes in the front of our head for a reason. we're supposed to eat meat. that's my opinion. >> what you're wearing, you look like a doctor from the future. >> can i say one thing? i did a cleansing, and i got so sick. i threw up. i was in bed for a couple days. they are a lousy idea. don't buy into it. it doesn't work. it's ridiculous. and "one more thing" is up next. >> it's a $60 billion industry. >> i know. >> cleansing your wallet.

all right, time for "one more thing." bob beckel up first. >> wall street journal story. the affordable care act, president obama's signature health care law is already boosting household incomes and spending. can we look at the chart please? on obamacare, personal income is up .3. i can't read it, it's too far away. look at those. it lays to rest a lot of the argument about what a lousy thing it's going to do to the economy. so far, doing a pretty good job. >> oh, my goodness. >> she said oh, my goodness. >> i could read it but i don't even want to help. >> that's the wall street journal. you interrupted me again. it's one statement and then get out of here. >> you finished. >> all right, fine.

you accept the wall street journal. >> that was brilliant, really good. greg, you're up. >> banned phrase today. love-hate relationship. whenever anybody says i have a love-hate relationship with chocolate, they just love it but they want to pretend they don't. just say you have a love-love relationship and be done. >> that's how i describe my relationship with you. >> oh, blush. >> what will i do now? >> i don't know. >> okay, snapchat, i have been on this snapchat thing. the cool thing, it's like a slice of americana in pictures. i realized america loves pizza, america loves booze a lot. adores "the five." and america i can't tell you how many snapchats i get with people watching it in the background. >> are they dressed? >> they have been very, very good. thank you for that. >> why bother. >> snapchat it. i have to press the button 6,000

times. andrea, you're up. >> a lot of controversy at duke university because one of their freshman decided to start doing porn to pay for her college tuition. she came out in a column revealing her stage name, and now she's playing the victim card. aw, poor thing. she says students on campus have been bullying her. a little advice for ms. belle knox, you won't need college if you do porn because you won't be getting a job, and your not a victim, and there's other things you can do, so i don't feel sorry for her. >> she's a very good actress, by the way. >> bob, stop. bob, stop. >> wasn't there a thing, what would your porn name be? we never did that, did we? >> i don't think so. >> so weird we didn't do it on the show. >> mine would be bob beckel. >> dana, you're up. >> well, my "one more thing" kind of -- not interesting to me, but interesting to a lot of people. i don't care about space. i couldn't care less. >> it's so small.

>> european commercial space plane is set to have its first flight into space in may. i -- anybody care about this? >> you're dressed like an astronaut. you're from the future like logan's run. >> i am glad that it's more private money that is going to be spent on this and not government money. >> you can walk your dog in space now. that should make you happy. >> put a mask on him or something? >> the poop could fly. >> set your dvrs so you never miss an episode of "the five." "special report," bret baier on deck. >> it's thursday, march the 6th. a new obamacare delay for you this morning. if you like your plan you can

keep your plan for two more years. we explain the planning behind it all. wl low ryes lois learner pleading the 5th again. >> may i ask my question? >> you are all tree to leave. >> what's next in the irs tea party scandal investigation? >> a war of words, university trying to stop a pair of alum from using the word god. a new verdict in a controversial case. "fox & friends first" right now. ♪>> good morning. you are watching "fox & friends

first" on this thursday morning. thank you for joining us. >> i am heather childers. >> i am ainsley earhardt. we appreciate you waking up this early with us. we are going to start with obamacare. the white house offering a two-year expansion on canceled healthcare plans. is this about the american people or about politics? >> elizabeth prann is following the latest news in washington. >> the department of health and human services had already given the insurers the option of continuing canceled plans through 2014. those policies were made in effect an additional two years. they did this to stop another wave of cancellations before the campaign. >> we respect the pledge i made if you like your plan you can keep it. i said in